Summary
The website, www.pcmag.com, caters to technology enthusiasts and as such contains reviews and product test summaries of the latest types of hardware released from various companies. While it does have articles and opinions on the latest news and developments in the IT industry it is primarily a product information/ promotion website that gains substantial revenue through product – review partnerships with companies wherein through various internal links on the site consumers can access and buy various products directly from the manufacturer.
Overall look and feel
The site itself is more textual rather than graphically based as such there is a certain simplicity in the way the information contained therein is presented. Information on products is arranged rather effectively via menus located on the left, bottom and on the top of the site. As such if a particular person were to look for reviews on a certain type of product it would be easy for them find.
Unfortunately when it comes to looking for archived articles that are beyond product reviews such types of information require a bit more searching however the website does provide a search bar near the site header which helps to simplify the process. Overall the site is comfortable to look at and the distinct lack of over the top graphics helps to make reading information that much easier.
Apparent Target Audience
Any individual looking to learn more about a particular product before buying it is the target audience of the website. As it was mentioned earlier the main line of business of the site is to provide product ratings and reviews, while it may not be a sales site itself it does provide links to manufacturers where users can buy the products reviewed if they so choose. In short the site mainly caters to technology enthusiasts looking to get more information in order to make better buying decisions (Horn, 2011).
Usefulness of the site
Basically the mere fact that the site reviews products which I myself may potentially buy is for me incredibly useful. For example I recently learned from a friend that Intel is releasing a new processor called the “Sandy Bridge”, I wanted to know more about the product as such I typed in Sandy Bridge on the search bar and immediately I was able to get all the information I required on what the product does and whether I should buy it or not (Murray, 2011).
Links to follow up
The site itself is actually exceptionally interesting as such there was far too much content for me to handle on a single visit these links in particular I plan to follow up in the next couple of days:
- article on the Sony PS3 Hacker
- article on Facebook questions app
- article on Googles latest tablet pc
The reason I found these links interesting lies in the fact that they are about products and services which I currently use as such I cannot help but be interested in what the articles contain.
Other Interesting Aspects of the Site
One aspect of the site that I found interesting was the comments section located at the end of every article. While I do appreciate the time and effort that Pcmag.com has put into creating the various articles and reviews that they have on the site I would still like to get a second opinion on the product. Often times users post opinions of their own use of the product which is not as biased as that of the creators of the articles themselves. As such I find it to be a useful application to make better buying decisions (Wilson, 2010).
Relation to the Objectives of the Module
Overall the site itself helps me to understand what actually works in terms of information presentation. When taking into consideration the objectives of the module an evaluation of this particular website for me reveals that a simplistic graphic design apparently works the best in terms of how to properly portray information to the general public.
I used to believe that flashy graphics and exaggerated content would lead to more site visits but in terms of what I learned in this module I can say that graphics is not everything in making a website but rather a balance between content and graphics is needed in order to truly create something great.
References
Horn, L. (2011). Report: iphone 5 will have edge-to-edge screen. Web.
Murray, M. (2011) Intel officially introduces sandy bridge microarchitecture. Web.
Wilson, J. (2010). * 10 hot console and pc video games. Web.